Vietnamese television halts Chinese movie starring actor who protests int'l court ruling
The Binh Thuan provincial television has announced it will stop broadcasting the movie “Shanghai Bund” because Huang Xiaoming, the leading actor, has protested the recent ruling by an international tribunal court that dismissed China's expansive territorial claims.
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The suspension took effect on July 16. The station has already screened the 19th episode of the 40-episode television series, Cong An Nhan Dan (People's Police) newspaper reported on July 16, citing a statement from Binh Thuan Television.
The Republic of Korea's movie "East of Eden" will be broadcast in lieu of "Shanghai Bund".
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 ruled in favor of the Philippines, which brought the case in 2013, by dismissing Beijing’s expansive claim to sovereignty over the strategically important and resource-rich South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea.
After the court’s ruling, many Hong Kong and mainland Chinese celebrities, including Huang Xiaoming, posted patriotic messages and a map that included the waters China claimed sovereignty on their social media to object to the ruling.
"Shanghai Bund" is a 2007 Chinese television series and a remake of the 1980 Hong Kong television series The Bund, produced by Hongkong-based TVB. The series starred Huang Xiaoming, Betty Sun, Li Xuejian and Huang Haibo in the leading roles.
In May 2014, the Binh Thuan Radio and Television Station also cancelled all Chinese movies to oppose Chinese deployment of an infamous oil rig to Vietnamese waters in the Paracels, an island chain in the East Sea.
